Just ahead of World Refugee Day, 41 companies on Monday collectively pledged to provide jobs and training to work opportunities for more than 250,000 refugees over the next three years in Europe.
The commitment, announced at the Tent European Business Summit in Paris, signals “the most significant set of business commitments ever made to advance the economic integration of refugees,” said the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a nonprofit founded by Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya that connects businesses and refugees. The group’s first summit in the United States last year led to commitments to hire 22,725 refugees.
Leading brands, including Hilton, Marriott International, and Teleperformance, have committed to hire 13,680 refugees into their workforce.
“Every number is a story of an individual family who left everything, seeking safety, seeking protection, and wanting to be able to rebuild as quickly as possible,“ said Kelly Clements, U.N. deputy high commissioner for refugees. ”So the commitments that businesses are going to make on Monday are absolutely essential.”
She says 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II.
One of the largest companies to make a pledge this week, Amazon, will hire at least 5,000 refugees. Meanwhile, companies including Accenture, Indeed, and Microsoft have committed to training around 86,000.
“This is good for us as a company because the opportunity to add diversity to our workforce will continue to make us a stronger company,“ said Ofori Agboka, Amazon vice president overseeing human resources. ”With diversity brings innovation, creativity, different insights.”
He said the vast majority of jobs will be hourly roles at fulfillment and storage centers and in transport and delivery.
Staffing firms pledged to connect around 152,000 refugees to employment by including them in their contingent workforces as well as placing them in jobs with their clients across Europe.
“Refugees face so many challenges as they try to enter their new country’s labor market for the first time or find work that is commensurate with their skills and background,” Lucy Murdoch, managing director—corporate citizenship, Accenture, said in a statement.
“Training opportunities—whether they’re focused on language, industry-specific skills, or learning labor market norms—are critical to help refugee candidates secure meaningful employment. Our pledge today builds on Accenture’s ongoing commitment toward creating inclusive employment pathways for refugees and track record in upskilling marginalized populations all around the world to make substantive improvements to their lives and prepare them for sustainable futures.”
Adecco said it will connect at least 50,000 refugees to work, while Randstad will connect at least 40,000 refugees to work. ManpowerGroup added that it will connect at least 30,000 refugees to work, while Polish staffing firm EWL Group will connect at least 35,000 refugees to work.
Christophe Catoir, president of Adecco and co-host of the Tent European Business Summit, said, “Adecco has a long-standing commitment of supporting refugees in need. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we have helped more than 10,000 refugees connect to work, but recognize the increasing need for companies like ours to do even more, given the sobering reality that many are expected to remain displaced for years to come. It’s inspiring to see dozens of companies from across Europe come together with such bold commitments at this crucial moment, and Adecco is incredibly proud to be at the forefront of this charge.”
The pledges made Monday represent the single largest batch of commitments made in the history of the Tent Partnership, which was founded in 2016.
